1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vacuum vapor-deposition apparatus for forming vapor-deposited layers on a base film, thereby to produce a vapor-deposited film, and also to a method of producing the vapor-deposited film.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto there are known vacuum vapor-deposition apparatuses that can form, in a vacuum, vapor-deposited layers of metal or the like on base films that are film sheets made of paper, plastics or the like, thereby imparting gas-barrier property and moisture-barrier property to the base films. (See, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 5-279843.)
A vacuum vapor-deposition apparatus operates, performing the following steps (1) to (3):
(1) Feeding a base film in a vacuum from a feed roll and guiding the base film from a feed guide roll to a coating roll, if necessary by way of a tension roll.
(2) Forming a vapor-deposited layer on the base film that is wrapped around the coating roll.
(3) Taking up the vapor-deposited layer around a takeup roll, if necessary by way of a tension roll, while a takeup guide roll is holding the vapor-deposited layer onto the base film fed from the coating roll.
The feed roll, takeup roll, coating roll and tension rolls are controlled in rotation by motors (not shown), respectively. The other rolls are free rolls, which rotate as the film moves.
The vacuum vapor-deposition apparatus described above has no problems in its usual operation. However, the inventor of the present invention has found that the apparatus should be improved in the following respects.
For example, each roll may rub the vapor-deposited layer formed on the base film while the takeup roll is taking up the film, scratching the vapor-deposited layer. If the vapor-deposited layer has scratches, its desirable properties, such as gas-barrier property and vapor-barrier property, will diminish. In view of this, it seems necessary to improve the apparatus so that it may not make scratches in the vapor-deposited layer.
An object of this invention is to provide a vacuum vapor-deposition apparatus that makes no scratches in a vapor-deposited film, thus preserving the desirable properties of the vapor-deposited film, and also a method of producing a vapor-deposited film that have no scratches.